Artificial Beauty
by J1gglypoof
Summary: Lillie is making decisions for herself after escaping her abusive mother, Lusamine. However, Lillie's perception of the world is altered and she only has been taught to care about beauty. When she washes on the shores of the Marina, she befriends Professor Kukui and Trainers Hau and Isabel to save Alola, and to save her mother. ***Rated T for Content not suitable for under 13
1. Prologue

I never knew the feeling of feeling real grass brush against my feet. I have never played a game of hopscotch or kickball with other children. My only friend, my older brother Gladion.

Our mother raised us from our home in Aether Paradise. My mother helped found it. She helped Pokemon, at least that's what I was told. Everything was artificial- the grass, the dirt, the trees. The Pokemon were happy, though, safe. That's what I was led to believe. Gladion was studying at a trainer school on Melemele Island, but I was not allowed to leave. Mother taught me "the necessities". I was taught to read and write. I was taught Pokemon, how to care for one, and how to dress them up to look beautiful, but I wasn't taught to battle.

Mother's only focus with me was to be beautiful. I was a doll to her, that would be dressed up and do little tricks for her sometimes. I learned that I was too dumb to make decisions for myself.

Dad was nice. I trusted him. He never agreed with Mother, and he was always there to save me. He wanted to send me to a school like Gladion, but Mother didn't approve. He never wanted me to be harmed. When Mother started her research on the Ultra Beasts, my father left.


	2. Pageant Girl

I was five when Mother entered me in my first pageant.

"Lillie, you know how we play princess sometimes?" She asked me.

"Yeah," I replied.

"What if I could enter you in a contest where you get to wear dresses and be pretty?"

It sounded like a dream, so Mother and I entered. We went in, and I wore a dress that I picked out, and I got to dance with a dance I taught myself. I enjoyed myself, but I ended up losing. Mother was furious. That night, when I went home, Mother forced me into the lab storage room.

"You said you would win! You said you were pretty, but you are wrong!" yelled Mother. "Stupid girl, you are not beautiful, or you would've won!"

She locked the door. I cried, I screamed, but any employees were told by my mother to ignore it, the noise was "just a rogue Pokemon". There was no food, but there was a sink with some running water that I survived on.

After a day and a half, I heard the door unlock.

"Lillie, what are you doing in the closet?" It was Gladion.

"I lost the beauty pageant. Mother locked me in here, and I am so hungry!" I cried. "Mother said I'm not pretty!"

"Does Dad know?" Gladion asked.

"No," I sniffled.

Gladion gave me a hug, and we went to my dad. Gladion told him everything. Dad got really mad, so he yelled at Mother. Mother promised to never do that again.

Dad had to go to Ula'Ula Island to do some research in Tapu Village. He would be gone a long time, and he gave me a big hug before he left and he told me he fixed everything with Mother and it would never happen again.

When Dad left, and Gladion went to school, Mother glared at me. "So you want to be pretty, right?"

I nodded, slightly worried.

"I guess we'll need to get you into shape." she said.

Mother handed me a dress, and it was white and had nice rhinestones on it. I could barely fit into it- it was size 3T, for a baby, a toddler. "You're fat, Lillie. Eat less, eat healthy if you want to be pretty so you can fit into this dress."

That night, at dinner, Mother made spaghetti. Gladion got a whole plate of spaghetti. I, only got four bites.

"I'm still hungry," I complained when I finished my food.

"Then don't be fat," said Mother, walking away with the rest of the spaghetti.

The next few weeks were like that, until my redemption- the Little Akala Beauty Pageant. I was malnourished, but thin like Mother's wishes. I won the pageant. Mother was so happy for me!

When we arrived back at Aether, I went to play in the rain, and Mother nearly scolded me, but she joined me, and we had so much fun, that was, until we caught colds. I was Mommy's little girl. She let me sleep in her large bed, too!

Father came home the next day from his trip. He went to give Gladion and I big hugs. He hugged me, and he felt my ribs.

"Lusamine, are you starving Lillie? She's emaciated! What have you done to her?" My dad shouted.

"I'm beauuifullll!" I beamed.

"No more of this," commanded my dad, pointing a finger at Mother.

When Dad left for his next trip, the cycle started over. I was a starving, submissive pageant girl.


	3. Gladion's Escape and Cosmog's Suffering

Gladion and I were growing up. I was twelve years old, and Gladion was fourteen, entering high school at Po Town Private High School, where Mother had coaxed the new principal Guzma for a full scholarship. Gladion was making his own choices more and more. He formed his own opinions. He proudly showed Mother how he could battle, challenging her, but always losing. Sometimes he would beat the employees.

Gladion would sometimes go with Mother on her expeditions, and I would be left alone with Wicke. He would come back with these stories and sometimes Pokemon.

"Lillie, you are not gonna believe what we caught!" Gladion exclaimed.

"What?" I curiously asked.

"Cosmog, the Pokemon that opened the wormhole Mother has been looking for for so long!" Gladion handed me a Pokeball, and it was squeaky and rusty. Definitely not a modern model. I threw it, and out it came, and the ball broke. Mother walked in.

"Lillie! I thought I could trust you around Pokemon!" Mother shouted. "You are obviously not fit to be near Pokemon, you carelessly broke the ball!" I broke into tears as Mother ushered me into the storage room again. "Never do I want you touching a Pokemon again! You are what we fight against here at Aether, these Pokemon abusers!" The door slammed shut.

"Mother, you have to stop doing that to Lillie," Gladion tried to reason with Mother. She walked away.

Gladion started working on research with Mother. I became more restricted, because Mother wouldn't let me near Pokemon. She blamed me for Cosmog not wanting to go in a ball again.

He woke me up one night. "Shhh Lillie!"

"What?"

"I need you to follow me, quiet!"

I tiptoed with Gladion. He led me to one of the research rooms. I heard lots of clanging and barking.

Gladion whispered to me. "Mother's research is failing. These Type: Full are suffering. I need to set them free." They were chained in cages. They had helmets on that looked unhealthy. That was all I saw, and Gladion sent me back to bed.

Gladion's behavior changed since I saw the Type: Full that were suffering. He became more rebellious towards Mother. He started to cut his hair, and wear strange clothing.

Mother was starting to become fed up with Gladion. Then, when it became too much for Mother, she banned him from watching her work.

"Gladion, stop this behavior!" Mother scolded.

"You are hurting these Pokemon," Gladion complained.

"It didn't turn out as we want, so now they are just Type: Null. But we are not doing anything wrong," Mother angrily said.

"MOTHER, I CAN'T TAKE IT! YOU ARE THE BAD ONE, NOT ME, NOT LILLIE! They are suffering, and you could care less! How can an organization helping Pokemon be so cruel?!" Gladion yelled. That was the first time I ever heard him get angry. He stormed off. That was the final time I saw him for the years following.

I woke up that morning, and everyone was in panic.

"Type: Null, where are they?" called one employee.

"Gladion? Where are you?" called Mother.

I put on some clothes before I went to see what was going on, and I noticed writing on my arm.

 _Poke Doll_.

It was definately Gladion's handwriting. I looked at my Poke Doll, and there was something sticking out. I put on a long-sleeve shirt to cover the writing.

 _Hi Lillie, it's Gladion. Last night was the final straw. I took one of the Type: Null. I hope to become its partner and give it the love it deserves. I am not going to live with Mother anymore at Aether. Hopefully I can still go to school in Po Town. I am hoping to get a job on one of Alola's islands, or find Dad, but please do not worry about my whereabouts. I hope we can reunite in the future. I am so sorry, stay strong and don't give in to Mother. If you see a Pokemon in danger, save it! I believe in you Lillie, and I do love you._

 _~Gladion_

I tucked the note back inside the doll. I put on a skirt and went to go see Mother. I told her the truth, or I would be punished I knew. "Gladion ran away," I told her. "He took a Type: Null."

"That disgrace of a human being is my son? That traitor!" Mother raged, appalled. "I can't believe he would do that!" Mother slapped me. "What did you say to him?" Mother asked me.

"Nothing," I said.

"Go back to your room, Mother said. I scurried back to my room. I couldn't stop thinking about Gladion. He was probably at school. I hope he was okay, maybe he even found Dad! But I was getting ahead of myself.

A while later Mother came into my room. "Everyone is very stressed about what happened. Why don't you put on a performance for everyone? Dress nicely," she said.

I was excited, hoping to impress her, however, all of my dresses didn't fit me. It was all the extra food I was eating when Wicke babysat! I tried to pull it over, but nothing. I put on makeup as Mother taught me, but that was it. As I walked onto the stage with everyone in front of me, Mother was outraged.

"Why don't you look nice?" Mother angrily asked.

"None of my dresses fit me," I said sadly. I knew I had upset her. Mother dragged me off the stage.

Back into the storage closet. She left me there for a long time, and Gladion wasn't there to save me. I cried for Gladion to save me, I cried for food. With Gladion gone, I was all Mother had to tear apart.

Four days of nothing, and I was starting to hallucinate. I had a nightmare where Gladion died escaping from Aether. The door finally opened, and it's a janitor. He blinks, confused. He calls the police line. Alola's police force comes, and I am shook.

"What is your name?" asks an officer.

I can't talk that much, but I shriek when I see the vending machine across the hall. "FOOD!"

An officer quickly gets me some tea biscuits and one dials a phone. Soon enough I'm in the medical ward, and Mother comes rushing in.

"Who did this?" Mother said. "Who let you out? I forgot about you, I went on another research trip."

"Yeah, thanks," I say to her sarcastically.

She got really angry, and was about to hit me, but a police officer came up to ask questions.

I recovered for the next few days. Whenever they gave me pudding, I devoured it. I fattened up for a while, letting me go, only when I reached a normal weight for a twelve year old, but it was not sufficient for Mother.

"Oh my god," she said when I returned home. "You look as fat as a Snorlax," she sneered. I self-consciously looked at myself. _But the doctors said I was average weight!_ "At least the Ultra Beasts are beautiful."

Mother's regimine got stricter with me. She stayed home more, which meant less opportunities to be sufficiently fed lessened. I became depressed- "I couldn' play with Pokemon anymore, I couldn't happily eat anymore. I just faded away...

It was a year later. Mother arranged for another meeting with everyone at Aether. There was no Gladion beside me this time, and I felt small and vulnerable against all these people. First Dad, then Gladion?

"Type: Null is going downhill, but we still have work we need to do! So today, down in the Lab Area, we will be conducting tests on Cosmog, with everyone ready to watch," Mother said, Faba and Wicke at her sides.

"If successful, we might be able to catch a quick glimpse at the Ultra Wormhole," said Faba. Everyone ooed. I wanted to see the Ultra Wormhole, I was curious. To my surprise, Mother let me tag along.

The afternoon was chaotic. Everyone wanted to see the testing. Mother was frantic, combing her hair, making calls, and of course "forgetting" to cook me lunch.

Mother and I went to the lab area, with one stop. We went into the conservation area where there was a cage. It was the Cosmog! It wailed as we went to the lab area.

 _If you see a Pokemon in danger, save it!_ Gladion's words rang through my head. _I believe in you Lillie,_ I looked at Cosmog.

The testing was horrendous. They poked and pricked at Cosmog, they forced it to battle, and in front of everyone, just to get it to open up for the audience. Wicke got nervous as she stood next to Mother, but Faba just went straight ahead to hurt it.

I fought back tears as I watched it suffer in front of the crowd. After two hours of no wormhole, Mother frustratedly took Cosmog back to the conservation area.

"BAD!" she shouted at it. It went to the corner of its cage.

I had to save it. For Cosmog, for Gladion, for everyone.


	4. WICKE-ing Away My Tears

Wicke was always like a mother to me. She was that only person other than Gladion I could trust. She didn't stand up for the abuse, and I knew it when I saw her react to Cosmog's abuse in front of everyone that day.

It was a while before Mother left again, with increasing progress with the Ultra Beasts, Mother was constantly at Aether. Mother left Wicke in charge, and I told her how I wanted to save Cosmog.

"Lillie, even I'm not allowed to leave," Wicke told me. "I will lose my job here if I leave. No vacation days, no holidays. I am only allowed to make one out-of-island call per week, and I can't talk to everyone at once, so it's hard." Wicke teared up. I felt her pain and teared up too. "This is such a good paying job, and my family's not that rich, I am sending my niece to a university for my family's first time, everyone is so proud of me, but me."

I started bawling, and Wicke reached out her arms and we cried together. "What should I do?" I asked her. "Something urgent needs to be done, before they kill it!"

Wicke and I thought over pudding. It calmed us both down. Wicke called it her "comfort food". I didn't know you could eat just for comfort, but I want to try that sometime. "I want you to escape Lillie," Wicke said. "Save Cosmog, and maybe you can save me and Aether with you,"

I gave Wicke a hug, and she was the last person I spoke to that night.

 _What should I take with me?_ I asked myself.

I scanned Gladion's room, and all his ites collecting dust. There was a nice duffel bag with Pokeballs on it, and I took it and slung it around my shoulder. I took one of Gladion's blankets also. I went to my room and thought of whick of my possessions I want. I grabbed a photo of my old family, the united one that made me feel safe, and a photo of Wicke and I having a fun time. I took my Poke doll, my favorite and only toy, and my bag was looking full. I still needed to keep room for Cosmog. I grabbed a change of clothes, and left my house.

 _Goodbye, never gonna miss the years of suffering you contained._

I snuck to a break room and grabbed some pudding and a thermos. My bag was getting full. I snuck to the lab area where Cosmog was being held.

The lab area was password protected, but I knew my mother all too well. _P-R-E-T-T-Y_. Admitted. I saw Cosmog, who lit up with fear when it saw e walk in. It started to screech.

"Shhh!" I whispered. I snuck it into my bag, and used the last of the room for some Poke beans. There was a ride pager, and I tried to catch a Charizard off the island. I pressed the button, and waited for it to arrive.

"Did you hear something in the lab room?" asked a guard. _Shoot._

I saw a Charizard sleepily land in the conservation area, and the guards went to it. "Something's going on. Who's calling a Charizard at 4:00 AM?" the other guard asked. "Sound the alarm."

I ran, running as fast as I ever had. Mother's pageant training had made me nible on my feet, and I dashed to the elevator, clicking the button approximately 30 times. I ran to the Charizard, hopped on and we flew away.

I didn't give it a destination. I had no idea where we were heading. I saw Aether drift into the distance.

My Charizard was sleepy, and it was dozing off over the sea. _No!_ I panicked. I can't die, this was all a mistake.

I saw land in the distance. Just a little closer! Charizard was too tired. We descended into the sea, and I heard Cosmog cry.

I dropped into the frigid ocean. I have no idea how to swim- I pant, hoping I can find a way to survive, but I drift under the waves... and that's the rest I remember.


	5. A New Start

"She's waking up, dear," said a woman's voice. I open my eyes, and I see a woman and a shirtless man in a lab coat looking down at me. I see Cosmog muching at something in the corner.

I can;t believe it. I was already arrested and they found Cosmog. What a failure I am.

"What is your name, miss?" said the man.

"How can I trust you?" I asked.

"I'm the professor of Alola, and I'm as reliable as a 100% accuracy move! I'm Professor Kukui, and this is my wife, Professor Burnet!"

"I'm Lillie," I say faintly, sitting up. "Can I have a drink?"

They quickly bring me a Tapu Cocoa from the Pokemon Center cafe. I realize that I am sitting in a loft in a hut.

"My secret, I mixed in a full restore to heal you up. But why were you on the beach with a Charizard?" asked Burnet.

"I- was trying to save Cosmog from my evil Mother," I told her.

"You can stay here as long as you want," Kukui tells me.

A Rockruff comes to my feet and sniffs me. I shriek. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Get that away from me!"

Kukui picks it up. "Why you so afraid? My dear Rockruff is the most loyal and friendly!"

"I hurt Pokemon, my mother told me I do, but I always have been facinated with them," I told him.

"We'll need to fix that, Pokemon and humans are meant to love each other," Burnet said. "Why don't we get something to eat?"

Kukui puts Cosmog in the basement with some food and water, and we leave. Kukui says we're going to Iki Town.

We arrive in a small town with a very traditional feel. The homes are huts, wood stairs, and a strong devotion to Tapu Koko, Melemele's deity. There was a large hut at the top of all the sets of stairs, Kahuna Hala's house.

"Kukui, Burnet, what a nice surprise!" said the old man. His beer belly jiggled as he laughed. He caressed my cheek. "I see you brought along a nice young lass," he said. A small boy ran up beside him, carrying a Popplio on his back.

"Hi, I'm Hau!" he said. "This is Popplio, my best pal, and my starter!" The Popplio let out a cute "Bwark!" "My grandpa's the Kahuna. Someday, I hope to be just like him someday!"

Hala set us down at a long table, and had his chef make us some Tamato pasta. I took a few bites and put my fork down.

"If you're not gonna eat that, I will!" Hau said.

"Why won't you eat?" Burnet asked me.

"If I eat too much, I get fat," I simply replied.

The chef came walking with some delicious looking plates that smelled sweet of powdered sugar. "At least eat some dessert, a specialty of Alola, malasada!" Hau swiped the plate from the chef and began scarfing it down. I chuckled. "I figured," the chef said. He brought another plate. I ate some, and it was good. I felt a new feeling off satisfaction from my stomach.

That night, Kukui made me a place to stay in his loft in his house. The bed smelled of honey and I took my Poke Doll out of my bag to cuddle with. I fell asleep, and for once, I was not scared, and I was calm.


End file.
